Snape's Little Surprise
by hydeandsnapesgirl
Summary: This is my first fanfic, so don't be to harsh! A new student at Hogwarts shocks everyone, but especially Professor Snape
1. Chapter 1 The New Girl

Chapter One: The New Girl

Chapter One: The New Girl

Harry stared absentmindedly at the bewitched ceiling of the Great Hall as he pushed his breakfast around his plate with a fork. Today was Monday, the day that Harry had his least favorite classes. Worst of all was double potions with the slytherins in the Hogwarts dungeon. Going to potions class also meant facing the one person at Hogwarts that he hated even more (if it was possible) than Draco Malfoy, Professor Severus Snape.

"Look," Hermione whispered. Her sudden outburst startled Harry, but she didn't seem to notice him jump. "Why is that girl wearing muggle clothes," she continued. Hermione nodded in the direction of a girl walking through the massive doorway of the Great Hall. She was wearing a bright yellow sweater with blue jeans, which made her hard to miss in the sea of black robes as she began to wander slowly around the long house tables. Other students seemed to notice the girl's strange un-wizard-like attire and turned to each other, whispering and pointing her out to their friends. Everyone knew that such clothes were only allowed on the weekends.

"Have you ever seen her before," Ron asked to neither one of them in particular. Both Harry and Hermione shook their heads. "Weird time to get a new student," Ron added. This was true, for it was nearing Christmas vacation. None of them had ever seen a new student come to Hogwarts on any day other than the first day of term.

The girl suddenly walked over towards the Gryffindor table and said, "Excuse me?" All of the Gryffindor students suddenly became very interested in their breakfasts, leaving Harry, Ron, and Hermione as the only students near where the girl stood who weren't staring down at their plates. "I'm Samantha Collins," she continued ignoring the fact that the majority of the students didn't want to talk to her, "Would you mind if I sat down here?"

Hermione squished up against Ginny to give Samantha room to sit down between her and Harry. From a quick sideways glance at Samantha, Harry saw that she had long, straight, black hair that swished back and forth across her back as she took her seat.

"So, Samantha," Hermione started after a moment of awkward silence, "Are you a new member of Gryffindor?"

With the look that Samantha gave Hermione, you would have assumed that Hermione had just sprouted another head. "Er, no," Samantha said, looking extremely confused.

"Oh," said Hermione, "What house are you in, then?"

"Uh, I don't really have a house right now," answered Samantha with the same what-are-you-talking-about look as before, "I'm kind of looking for one, though."

At this, Harry finally entered the conversation. "You don't just choose a house," he said, "The sorting hat puts you in one."

Samantha turned and gave him the same look as she gave Hermione, laughed, and said, "I get it, you guys are so funny! A 'sorting hat'. You actually had me going there for a second!" She laughed again, leaving the trio to look around at each other and give confused looks.

"So, I'm guessing you _are_ new to the school," asked Ron when Samantha had stopped laughing.

"Wait, this is a school" Samantha asked in return. She pondered this for a moment, and then smiled. "You guys must be joking about this too," she laughed.

Hermione looked slightly aggravated, but said "no, we were serious about everything," very calmly.

"_Right_," the new girl said sarcastically. "Well, back to business. Let's see, what was I going to ask?" She shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out a small crumpled piece of paper. "Could you guys tell me where to find somebody named," she paused for a moment, squinting at the paper, "Er, Sev-er-us Snap? Oh, I mean, Snape?"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked around at each other again, exchanging even more confused looks. "Well, his classroom is down in the dungeons," said Hermione, wiping the look off her face, "He'll probably be down there later. He's usually in here for breakfast, but I don't see him."

Samantha suddenly looked angry. "You guys think you're so funny, trying to confuse me! Well, I'll just find him on my own then!" And with that, she jerked up from her seat and stormed away from the Gryffindor table.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Potions

"What was that all about?" Ron broke the silence that followed Samantha's abrupt departure. "She must be a nutter."

Harry suddenly remembered the fate of his old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart. "Maybe someone used a memory charm on her," he said.

"No," Hermione replied, "Remember, when Lockhart's memory charm backfired, he couldn't even remember his name. And Samantha at least knew that."

"Well, maybe it wasn't a very good memory charm," Ron said. Hermione and Harry just shrugged.

After a few moments of silent pondering with no conclusions, the trio gathered up their bags and books and headed off for the dungeons that _did _exist to face the potions master, who, unfortunately for Harry, was real also.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked down the cold, dark hallway leading to Snape's classroom to join the usual crowd of Slytherins and Gryffindors waiting for potions class to begin. The news of the strange new girl had apparently spread quickly. Harry could hear bits of conversations coming from huddles of students as he, Ron, and Hermione shoved their way to the door of the classroom.

"Did you see what she was wearing," exclaimed a Slytherin girl to her friends who all responded with giggles and remarks of how they "would never be caught dead in such a hideous muggle outfit."

A girl from Gryffindor was slightly more concerned. "I hope there wasn't anything wrong," she said, "I tried to point her in the right direction, but she seemed to think I was trying to tease her or something."

Laughing, a boy behind her replied, "she probably just escaped from St. Mungo's!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally reached the closed wooden door of the potions room. Ron began to lean on the door, but just at that moment, it swung open making Ron land on his bottom on the cold stone floor. Snape stuffed his wand back in his robes and said, "I see that you have found a seat, Mr. Weasley, but I would prefer you sat in a chair, instead of contaminating my floor." More giggles issued from a group of Slytherin girls just behind them. Ron mumbled something Harry couldn't hear under his breath as Snape's face twitched into a smug grin. Harry grabbed Ron's bag for him as he got up from the floor, then tossed it to him once he had dusted off his robes.

"Contaminate his floor," Ron mumbled as he and Harry sat down at their usual desk in the back of the class. The rest of the students came into the room and sat down without saying a word. Everyone knew better than to annoy Snape.

"Turn to page one hundred and three," the professor commanded. The dungeon was automatically filled with the sound of turning pages. He flicked his wand at the board and the words "memory potion" appeared in thin pointed writing. "Today you will be brewing a potion that, if drunk immediately after a memory charm is used, will reverse the affects of the memory charm."

Harry heard Draco Malfoy snigger, "I guess that means it's too late for the new girl." This was followed by chortling from Crabbe and Goyle, although Harry was sure that they didn't understand his joke at all.

"You will find all the necessary ingredients," Snape flicked his wand again and bottles and boxes of ingredients appeared on their desks, "right in front of you. When you are finished, you will pour your potion into a flask and bring it up to me to be tested." Harry really hoped Snape wouldn't want a "volunteer" to test the potions on, for it would most definitely be him. "Begin," Snape finished.

Harry looked into his book. The potion wasn't very hard. Maybe for once he would avoid ridicule from his potions master if he could just brew this potion correctly. The room was silent except for the occasional squeak of scales being pushed across a desk and a hissing sound coming from Neville's cauldron. Snape began his usual course around the room, pausing occasionally to remark to students who had made a wrong measurement about how this potion could have been made perfectly by a toad and how he couldn't understand how such unintelligent people were even allowed into the school.

But Harry knew that Snape would save the best for him, and was not at all surprised when the professor paused behind Harry's desk and said, "Well Potter, what have we done wrong today?" However, Harry didn't have time to reply that he had done everything correctly because at that moment, the dungeon door creaked open. Snape said, "What is it," without even turning to look at who was there.

"Er, I'm looking for Severus Snape," came Samantha's voice from the doorway. Harry turned around to see that she still had on the same bright yellow sweater and jeans as she did at breakfast, her long black hair hanging limply around her face.

"Look Potter," said Snape, "sounds you have some competition for the brightest one at the school. Congratulations, girl, you have found who you were looking for." At this point, Snape finally turned around to face Samantha. His face changed to look slightly confused. "Who are you?"

"I'm Samantha," she said.

"I don't teach you. What are you doing here?"

Samantha looked around at the students who were all facing her. "So this _is_ a school," she said.

Draco Malfoy yelled across the room, "Hey Samantha! I've got something here for you!" He held up his cauldron full of memory potion and the rest of the Slytherins laughed.

"Silence, Draco," ordered Snape. He turned back to Samantha, "I repeat, what do you want?"

"Well," said Samantha, "I have something to give to you."

"Well," said Snape, "hand it over."

Samantha pulled out a sealed envelope from her back pocket and started walking over towards Snape. He looked her up in down, taking in her muggle attire. Samantha stretched out her arm and Snape snatched the envelope from her. She stood gazing around the room at the desks and students. Snape looked at the girl, seeming to wonder why she hadn't left yet, but when she just turned and stared back at him with her black eyes, he proceeded in opening the envelope.

Snape pulled out the paper and scanned through it. Harry watched as his expression changed from his usual look of hatred, to confusion, and then to shock. Snape gazed at the new girl with his mouth slightly open. At this, Samantha looked even more puzzled than she did before. A few seconds later, the potion master snapped out of his trance, put the paper and envelope into his robes, turned to Samantha and said, "Go to my office."

"Where is that?"

Snape pointed toward his office door and she turned and walked quickly between the desks, and disappeared into Snape's room.

Still looking quite stunned, Snape muttered, "class dismissed," and hurried into his office after the new girl, his long black robe billowing behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Snape's Office

Samantha heard the door creak open again, just seconds after she entered Snape's office. She twirled around to see the man she had just encountered, shutting the door behind him with a little more force than necessary. He turned to look at the girl, his face splattered with a look of fear, disgust, and shock. Snape's greasy black hair hung limply around his face as he stared at Samantha with the same look someone might give a deformed animal. Samantha just stared back. It was rare that the professor found a student who didn't automatically turn away when he glared at them in this way. This girl didn't seem to be intimidated at all.

"Hey," Samantha said after a few more seconds of glaring, "Er, Severus, right?"

"Who gave you this," Snape asked her.

"What?"

"The letter!"

"Oh yeah," she replied, "Well…I sort of found it."

"You found it…." Snape sighed and turned away. "Is it true?"

"Is what true," Samantha asked him.

"THE LETTER!"

"I don't know!" His shouting annoyed her. "I haven't read it! Didn't you notice it was still sealed when I handed it to you?"

Snape sat down at his desk, one hand holding his head, the other grasping the letter. "So you have no idea who I am?"

"You're Severus Snape," Samantha said to him looking puzzled.

"Here," he mumbled, tossing the letter to the end of his desk nearest Samantha, "read it."

Samantha opened up the envelope and pulled out the letter. She opened it to see a familiar handwriting:

_Dear Severus,_

_I hoped that you would never have to read this letter. Your receiving of this letter means that I am dead. The girl who should have given this to you is Samantha. I left her a note saying to come straight to you when I am gone. She is a witch, although she is most likely unaware of it. I've known since she was very young, but I refused to send her to Hogwarts. I am still very against witchcraft. However, when she finds out, the decision will be hers, for I won't be there to stop her. I'm guessing you remember me, Rachel Collins. The "muggle" or whatever you people call us. Samantha is your daughter. I sent her to you because she has no other relatives. Please, take care of her. I know this is probably quite a shock, but I hope you two can work it out._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Rachel Collins_

Snape watched as Samantha scanned the page. When she looked up from the paper with tears in her eyes she whispered, "it can't be."

There was a long pause in which she began crying again and Snape closed his eyes with his head in his hand. "How did it happen," he asked her.

"W-what?"

"How did she die?!" Snape was losing his patience.

Samantha sniffed back more sobs, gave him an angry look for being so rude, and said, "Someone came into our house one night. She heard them and ran to my room. She gave me the letter and my note and told me that the note would tell me what to do if something bad happened. She hid me in the closet, and then I'm not really sure what happened. I just heard her scream and I came running downstairs to find her bleeding on the floor. She was barely alive and told me not to call the police or an ambulance because they couldn't do anything for her." Samantha started crying almost hysterically but managed to say, "And then she d-died r-right in front of m-me."

Samantha managed to calm down enough to tell him, "I don't have anywhere else to go. I don't care whether you're my father or not, just give me somewhere to stay or someone to help me. Please."

She gazed at the professor through tear filled eyes, making him turn away. _This can't be happening_ he told himself. _Just send her to Minerva, she'll sort it out_.

"I will send you to someone who will help, but first I want to know if you really are a witch."

Samantha's face once again twisted into rage as she said, "I go through all this and you still want to confuse me or something!? Witches aren't real! I'm not a little kid! I don't believe that stuff anymore!"

Snape rolled his eyes at her. "So you think your mother just decided to put a little joke into her death letter? Just thought it would brighten my day to have a laugh right after hearing of her passing away?"

"I don't know! Maybe it's some kind of code or something!" Samantha shouted at him. Snape's face showed an annoyed and frustrated expression.

"Witches are real, as well as wizards," he said impatiently.

Samantha squinted her eyes, "Prove it," she said.

Snape glared at her, pulled his wand out of his robes and gave it flick.

There was a pause in which Samantha and the Professor looked at each other, Samantha waiting for something to happen. "Oh _wow_," she spat at him when nothing at all happened, "you can twirl a piece of wood."

"Look down," he said through clenched teeth.

Samantha screamed as she looked down to find that flames were climbing up her legs, however she felt no pain, not even heat. If anything she just felt colder.

"Make it stop," she begged.

Snape's mouth curved into a smug grin, "do you believe me now?"

"Yes, yes! Just don't burn up my clothes!"

He flicked his wand again and the fire disappeared, leaving her clothes looking just the same as they did when she walked into his office. "Fine then," she said, "you're a witch."

"_Wizard_," he snapped.

"Whatever! That doesn't mean I'm a witch!"

"Well, unless you're a squib, you _can_ do magic because I am apparently," Snape sighed and clenched his teeth again, "your father."

"Unless I'm a _what_?"

"You know," Snape said, "for someone who just met her long lost father, you seem very uninterested."

"I don't believe that you _are_ my father!"

"You should."

"Well if you are my father, where have you been all these years?! I've lived 14 years not knowing who my father was! And now I'm just supposed to believe this complete stranger is my Dad?"

"You can blame that on your mother! I gave that woman everything she wanted and then the cold-hearted bitch just left!"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT MY MOM LIKE THAT!" Samantha screamed at him so loud that Snape was surprised the potion jars hadn't fallen off their shelves. She gave him the most evil stare imaginable and suddenly his hair burst in to flame. Without changing his bored expression, he muttered _aguamenti_ and water spurted from his wand, dousing his hair, and then returned it to it's normal length.

"Why did you do that?!" Samantha's expression of hatred mixed with confusion.

"What? Did you think I was just going to let it burn?"

"No! Why did you put it on fire in the first place?!"

"Oh, yes," he sneered, "I would really burn my hair off purposely. _You _did that. There's your proof. And as for proof of me being your father, I suggest you reread your mother's death letter."

"But I didn't do anything! How could I just set your hair on fire?!"

Snape sat at his desk toying with the envelope, as if this were a boring conversation he had every day. "I made you angry and you chose not to control yourself." He looked back up at Samantha. "Which makes it seem more possible that you are related to Potter than to me."

"Who?"

"Never mind." The professor got up from his chair and walked over to the door, holding it open as Samantha came towards him. "Go see Professor McGonagall. Tell her I'll explain this all to her later and that you need somewhere to stay."

"Where's Professor McGonagall?"

"In her office, most likely."

"Where's her office," Samantha said as she stepped through the doorway.

"Go find it." And with that, Snape slammed his office door shut.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: McGonagall

Chapter 4: Tattered Robes

Professor Snape sat at his desk with his forehead in his hand. His dark hair hung around his face, blocking the dim candlelight from his eyes. Samantha pounded against the door of his office yelling something that only came as a mumble through the stone walls. She finally left, leaving the office completely silent. Snape hadn't even noticed the absence of her knocking. His mind was to full of thought to hear anything.

_Maybe this is just a vivid dream._ He thought, _I'll wake up in the morning and that girl will be gone. _Another part of his mind chimed in, _but the letter! I remember Rachel's handwriting! Why would I dream about this?_ Snape's mind raced from one possibility to the next. _Why did you tell her it was true? _You_ don't even know if it's true!_ A part of him answered, _I had to tell her something! She'll just go to Minerva for tonight and it will all be worked out in the morning._

Snape wished he had taken the letter back from Samantha to reread it. Now all he had was the envelope that sat on his desk. He snatched it and leaned back in his chair. On the front of the envelope in small letters was written "Severus Snape" in Rachel's handwriting. Severus's mind wandered fourteen years into the past. He remembered Rachel's face and laugh and almost smiled, but then he remembered the way that she had left him. Snape clenched his teeth as the vision of her walking away from him for the very last time flashed before his eyes. He remembered how long it took to recover from this, one of the worst times in his life, and he never dreamed that one day he would find out that Rachel was pregnant when she left him.

_But _was_ she pregnant?_ Snape's mind turned back to its racing thoughts. _Did she not know at the time? Did she know and not tell me? Is this girl even my daughter?_ _No,_ part of him said, _she may be mine by blood, or maybe not, but either way she's not my daughter. Or at least she'll never accept it. Nor will I._ Severus pushed himself out of his seat. _No time to worry about this now. I've got another class in ten minutes._

Samantha strolled down a long hallway with no clue as to where she was heading. She had walked a long way from Snape's office and had only met a few students. The first people she saw were a group of girls wearing green and silver under their black robes. Samantha tried to ask them where "Professor McGonagog's" office was, but they just laughed and walked away. All the other's she had met quickly changed direction when she came their way.

After several minutes of walking, Samantha had seen an old woman in a large painting yawn. However, she rubbed her eyes and shook her head, thinking that she was imagining things, and continued down the corridors. Her footsteps echoed off of the stone walls as she turned down a hallway with a large wooden door. Just after she passed it, she heard the door creak open. Samantha whirled around to see a man in a ragged and patched robe tapping the door handle with a stick that he then shoved into his robes.

"Hey," Samantha said as he started to head in the other direction. The man turned around.

"I would prefer 'Excuse me, Professor Lupin'," he said, stepping towards her. Lupin looked her up and down. "Why aren't you in your school robes?"

"I don't have any," Samantha said.

"What do you mean you don't have any?"

"I don't go to this school," she replied.

"Well then, may I ask why you are wandering around in here?"

Noticing that Lupin was getting irritated, Samantha quickly replied, "I'm sorry, sir. I don't really know." He didn't change his expression, so she continued, "I was sent by Snape to find Professor McGonagog's office."

Lupin raised an eyebrow. "You mean Professor McGonagall?"

"Yes, sir." Samantha noticed how this man was slightly strict, however was much more pleasant than the man who was supposedly her father. His tattered clothes and overall worn-out appearance made him look strangely more approachable than Snape. Samantha was glad to see that not every so-called wizard was as bitter as the one she had first encountered.

"May I ask why he sent you to see Professor McGonagall?" His curiosity had swallowed the look of aggravation on his face.

"Well, I'm not sure, exactly. He said to tell her that I needed a place to stay for the night and that he'd explain it all later." Samantha watched as Lupin thought of what to do with her. At one point, she was afraid he was going to throw her out.

After finally making up his mind, Lupin said, "Well, I suppose I should lead you to her office." He motioned for her to follow him and began heading down a flight of stairs. As Samantha followed Lupin around the weaving passageways, she thought she noticed the paintings moving again. After rubbing her eyes several times and shaking her head until she was dizzy, she continued to see the occupants of the many picture frames strolling about and chatting.

"Um, Professor Loopy?"

"Lupin," he said slightly irritated.

"Sorry," Samantha said, still staring dazedly at the pictures. "How do you get all of those TVs to stay up there?"

"All of those _what_?"

"Televisions," she replied louder.

"Well," Lupin said, giving her a confused look, "they're not that. They're pictures."

"But they're _moving_," she said with a shocked expression.

"Yes, they typically do," he said to her. "Do you think they'd want to stay in the same position all the time?"

"They don't typically move!"

Lupin stopped in his tracks and turned around to Samantha who almost ran into him. He tilted his head slightly and stared at her as if trying to decide whether or not she was human. "Do you need to see Madam Pomfrey?"

"Who?"

"Madam Pomfrey. The school nurse."

"I'm not sick," Samantha said. _Apparently everyone else is, though_, she thought.

Professor Lupin paused, still giving her the same baffled look. "Why did you come here?"

"To find Severus Snape."

"Let's go with Professor Snape," Lupin corrected her. She nodded and he continued, "But why did you come to look for him?"

"My mum told me to," she replied, looking down at her feet. Just thinking of her mother made tears come to her eyes, and she didn't want Lupin to see. However, Lupin noticed that she was upset and continued their walk to Professor McGonagall's office.

By the time he stopped at an old wooden door, Samantha had pulled herself together. She looked up and saw that beside the door there was a plaque that read "Professor Minerva McGonagall"

"Well here we are," Lupin said.

"Thank you, sir," Samantha said with the trace of a smile.

"You're welcome. And good luck with whatever it is you're doing."

Samantha just nodded and Professor Lupin turned and walked down the hall. She almost felt sorry for him as she saw his tattered and poorly patched robe disappear around the corner. She couldn't understand why he was dressed in those clothes while almost everyone else she had seen had such nice new robes. Even Snape. Well, everyone except the red haired boy she'd seen that morning.

Her mind switched back to what Lupin had brought her here for, and Samantha turned to the entrance of Professor McGonagall's office and knocked.


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

Chapter 5: The Cat

Samantha listened to her knock on Professor McGonagall's door echo down the hallway. She waited. After a few seconds with no reply, she knocked again. And waited. Nothing. "Hello," she called. "Um, Sev- I mean, Professor Snape told me to come see…" she checked the plaque by the door, "Professor McGonagall." No one answered.

Just then, Samantha heard a meow. Walking towards her, there was a tabby cat with markings around its eyes that made it look as if it were wearing glasses. "Here kitty, kitty," Samantha whispered. The cat stopped its prowl and sat staring at the girl standing in front of McGonagall's office. Samantha looked back up the hallway. There was no one calling for the cat or following it. She walked over, but as she reached down to pet it, the cat stood up and continued its slow walk toward the office door. As soon as it got 3 feet from the office, the door creaked open just enough for it to squeeze itself into the room.

Samantha hurried back towards the door, but it shut just as she reached for the handle. She sighed. _Now what?_ She thought, _I guess I could go back to Severus_. She decided that wasn't the best idea. The man didn't seem like the most welcoming person, or someone to go to when you didn't know where else to go. She remembered the man in the tattered robes. _What was his name? Lupin? He couldn't have gotten too far._ Samantha started down the hallway in the direction that Lupin had left, but just then, the door of Professor McGonagall's office swung open.

"Come in," came a shrill voice from the office.

Samantha turned and said "um, are you Professor M-McGonagall?"

A clearly annoyed, strict looking woman stuck her head out of the office door. "Of course," Minerva said looking at the girl wearing muggle clothes standing outside of her office. She didn't recognize her. _I teach everyone in the school! A muggle couldn't have found her way in could she?_ "May I ask what you're doing sneaking around the hallways during class time?"

"I wasn't sneaking," Samantha said, but when she saw the look on Professor McGonagall's face, she quickly added "Ma'am." With the same glare and pursed lips, Minerva opened the door and told the girl to come in.

The room was bigger than Snape's office, and much more inviting. There was a lit fireplace warming the room with a large antique desk on the opposite side. Everything in the room looked very old, but sturdy and elegant. Samantha wondered why this was true of Professor McGonagall's office, while all the furniture in Snape's office looked either like it would topple over any minute or that it could be used to smash a car with all of its weight.

"Have a seat," McGonagall ordered, pointing at a chair opposite her chair at the desk. Samantha walked over and sat down. Minerva followed and took her seat facing directly at the black-haired girl that she didn't recognize. There was a brief silence as Samantha continued looking around the room for the cat she had seen as the Professor looked the girl up and down, trying to remember if she had ever seen her before. When the girl turned to face Minerva, the Professor asked, "What are you doing roaming around the school?"

"I was looking for you," Samantha replied, "Professor Snape told me to come see you."

"And what do you want?"

"Professor Snape said to tell you that I needed a place to stay for the night and that he'd explain it all to you later." Professor McGonagall gave her a disbelieving look and Samantha said, "that's all he told me…is he always like that?"

"Like what?" Professor McGonagall straightened up in her chair.

"You know…" Samantha said, "is he always so…"

Minerva interrupted, "let's focus on the issue that is most important right now. I suppose you can stay in the hospital wing for the night. There are cots and blankets, you should be fine." She got up from her chair, and so did Samantha. Walking back towards the office door, McGonagall said, "I hope you have a good reason for being here." She opened the door and the girl walked out. Minerva continued, "I expect that since Professor Snape sent you here, there must be a reason." Samantha opened her mouth to tell the Professor about the letter, but the door was shut just as she began to form the words.

* * *

Professor Snape's horrible day was getting worse, as usual. He had had to send four students to the hospital wing from various side effects of using incorrect measurements or ingredients in their potions. _These kids_, he thought, _don't even try. When I was there age, I was thankful to be taught in the magical arts. I tried. Something gets to boring for these students, they pay no attention, and that is exactly what they get—an explosion in their faces._ Then he remembered that _he_ may have a kid just like them. _He _may have a child just as ignorant and ungrateful as all the students he taught. _No, this is preposterous_, he told himself. _You don't know that that—that girl—is even your daughter! Some teenager shows up in your office with a note from her "deceased" mother saying I'm her father._

He pulled the envelope out of the pocket of his robes as he sat at his desk. It was lunch time. He should have been in the Great Hall, but he needed some time to himself. There it was—_Rachel's_ handwriting. "Someone else could have copied her handwriting," he told himself. _But how would that girl know about Rachel? Why would she come to me? How would she know me?_

* * *

Samantha wandered around the halls. She now knew where she was supposed to be going—the hospital wing—but she had no clue how to get there. A student would sometimes pass, but she wouldn't notice. She was too busy staring at the paintings on the wall. One painting of an old man with a beard wearing a strange green robe finally had enough of her gawking and said, "What exactly do you want?"

Samantha jumped and shook her head. She was just getting used to the fact that the pictures could move, but now they could _talk_? She wondered if they could hear or answer a question. After a quick glance around the hallway to check that no one was near, she whispered, "can you hear me?"

"Well of course I can! You think I'm deaf?" The man looked insulted, so Samantha said "no, no! I'm sorry. I was just wondering if you could help me, sir?"

"What do you need help with?"

"I was wondering which way I should go to get to the hospital wing."

The man in the painting said, "Oh, you're not far off. Just continue down this hallway and take a left, then a right."

"Thank you," Samantha said. As she walked off down the hallway, careful not to stare at the paintings, the man with the beard pondered why a student would need directions to the hospital wing.

* * *

Severus Snape was still dreading the moment he would have to explain to Professor McGonagall where Samantha came from. He couldn't arrive at an answer himself. He stood drumming his fingers against the board of his dungeon classroom as first year students struggled to make a decent sleeping potion. His mind wandered from Samantha to Minerva to Rachel.

He checked his watch. Five minutes until it was time for dinner in the Great Hall. Five minutes until he had to give Minerva some explanation as to where this mystery girl came from. "Bottle your sleeping potion, put your name on it, and leave it on my desk," he ordered the class. "Homework tonight is a foot of parchment on the use of Graphorn in the sleeping potion." A moan came from the class, which was instantly silenced by a glare from the Professor. The first years started pouring their potions into vials, and in a few moments, there were a decent number of them lying on Snape's desk.

"Class dismissed," Snape said reluctantly. Time to go and face Minerva and the girl who claimed to be his daughter.


End file.
